


Falling Doesn't Feel So Bad When I Know You're Falling This Way Too

by SkeletalSasquatch



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Based on a song, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Childhood Sweethearts, Declarations Of Love, Fluff and Angst, I cried a little writing this ngl, Inspired by Music, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi, Reunions, Reunited and It Feels So Good, covid 19? we don't know her, the song is deviltown by cavetown
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24327985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkeletalSasquatch/pseuds/SkeletalSasquatch
Summary: Five years, two months, and twelve days.It had been five years, two months, and twelve days exactly since Grantaire moved across the country, never to see his childhood best friend and first love ever again.Five years, two months, and twelve days.It had been exactly five years, two months, and twelve since Enjolras had last seen the most important person in his life, his best friend, his soulmate.Five years, two months, and twelve days ago, Grantaire said goodbye to Enjolras.On fifth year, second month, and twelfth day of being apart, they were no longer apart.
Relationships: Enjolras/Grantaire (Les Misérables)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Falling Doesn't Feel So Bad When I Know You're Falling This Way Too

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave comments. i love feedback!! i thrive on feedback!! 
> 
> also, very brief and vague implications of child abuse (grantaire mentions his dad making his life miserable, and he is moving in with his mother, and the thernardiers show up for a second).
> 
> my tumblr is poetandmadman (my main) or looksogoodingreen (my roleplay account, but i'm more active there).

Five years, two months, and twelve days.

It had been exactly five years, two months, and twelve days since Grantaire moved from Portland to Boston.

Exactly five years, two months, and twelve days since the last time he saw his best friend. Not to mention his first love, but they had been friends before that.

It was the day Grantaire was leaving for Boston, August, in the summer between eight and ninth grade. He was sitting down on his lawn, watching the final few boxes go into the moving van. "Grantaire!" A voice shouted, and when he turned, it was his friends Enjolras (That was his last name, his name was Leo, but they had called each other by their last names for a long time). He had known Enjolras since the first day of first grade. He sat down next to Enjolras at snack time. While Grantaire was doodling on a napkin, Enjolras said it looked nice. They introduced themselves, and concluded that they would hang out during recess later. Ever since that, they were pretty much inseparable. It wasn't like they didn't argue, no. They argued a lot, but neither of them ever hurt the other's feelings. Their little arguments were more like debates, and Enjolras usually won. He'd always been good at that. 

"Enj! What's wrong?" Grantaire said, standing up and wiping some grass of his jeans. "I need to talk to you. Right now." Enjolras had said, running up to Grantaire, and put his hand on his shoulder. "I love you. I love you a lot. I don't want to lose you forever, Grantaire. I wanted to start high school together, graduate together, go to college together. Get an apartment with cats, or something. I know you can't help that you're leaving, but still. I love you and I needed to say it." Enjolras rushes out, tugging Grantaire behind the huge oak tree. It was obvious he was trying not to cry. "Enjy, I know. If I didn't have to go, I wouldn't. But my mom won't move out closer, and I'm with her now. I love you too. So, don't cry." Grantaire said, pulling him into a hug. "I don't want you to forget me." Enjolras choked out, voice barely above a whisper. "I won't." He replied, pulling away to look at Enjolras. That was when, in just a fraction of a second, Enjolras was kissing him. It couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but it said a lot. "Adam, say goodbye. We've gotta go." Grantaire's aunt called out. Grantaire flashed a smile at Enjolras before saying, "See you tomorrow, Enj." Enjolras waved back, before turning his head, and running back towards his house. 

He hadn't seen Enjolras since then. But there wasn't a day that went by where he didn't think of him. Since he had left Portland, he had met some kids in his high school that he became good friends with. But all of them knew about Enjolras, and never brought it up. It was a very sensitive subject. He met Eponine first. On the first day of ninth grade, in the cafeteria. He stood out before the sea of tables, in his Five Nights at Freddie's backpack, trying to find a seat. A hand shot up, and he looked at where it was coming from. It came from a girl with short, curly hair, wearing a severely oversized Green Day sweatshirt. "Hey! You! The guy in the FNAF backpack!" She shouted, waving her arm around. Grantaire went to sit down, right across from Eponine and beside a freakishly tall ginger boy with a note book and a freckled boy with messy hair. "You're new." Eponine stated, smiling faintly at Grantaire. "Yeah. I'm from Portland." He replied. setting his lunchbox on the table. "I'm Eponine Thenardier. Welcome to Boston." She said, sticking her hand out. Grantaire shook her hand. "I'm Adam Grantaire." He says, looking over at the other people at the table. There was a boy in a sweater and glasses holding hands with a pretty blond girl, and a boy with a shaved head who looked way older than everyone else. "That's Jean Prouvaire." Eponine said, pointing at the ginger boy on his left. "Nice to meet you Adam. Call me Jehan, please." He had said, offering a slight smile. "Just call me R." Grantaire responded, looking to his right. "That's Peter Courfeyrac, and the two guys over on the end are Marius and Bahorel. Marius is the one sitting next to the girl, Cosette. Her dad teaches english here. You've probably met him." Eponine explained, gesturing towards the end of the table. "You can sit here at lunch if you want to, but you don't have to. I just saw you standing there with your tray, looking like a deer in fucking headlights." Eponine concluded. 

"No. I'll sit here."

He grew pretty close with all of them. He met Eponine's parents (only one time, thank god), who ran a shady motel and bar downtown. He found out Eponine had a younger sister, Azelma, who was six, and a younger brother, Gavroche, who was ten. He didn't see Gavroche that day. The Thenardiers explained that Gavroche just came and went as he please, sometimes he'd just be gone for a few days. They didn't really see anything wrong with that, which was weird. He later met Gavroche, a skinny little kid covered with old, dirty shoes, and a baseball cap. He liked hanging out with Gavroche, who was pretty mature for his age. Jehan liked music and poetry, and he also loved Grantaire's art. They hung out at Jehan's house a lot, just talking and drawing or writing, just relaxing. Courfeyrac was really weird, but in a fun way. He was the kind of kid who would never turn down a dare. He swallowed hand sanitizer one time. He was okay, he just said it tasted gross. He never really hung out with Marius and Cosette alone, but he talked to them a lot. They were nice, and Cosette was really good at math (which Grantaire couldn't do worth shit). He went to Cosette's house one time, when he was with Eponine, Courfeyrac, Jehan, and Marius. Her dad was their english teacher. He was older, probably in his fifties, and very intimidating. But he was really nice, and he had a lot of interesting stories. He also had something of a blood feud with the man who taught government. Grantaire never took that class, but Marius told him that the teacher was a real hardass. Cosette looked nothing like her dad, and Grantaire later figured out she was adopted. Cosette would talk about the story of how she met her dad later down the line. It was a really weird story. Grantaire liked hanging out with Bahorel, who wasn't actually any older than him. He just looked way older. They went to the skatepark on the weekends, and messed around downtown. He always had fun. 

Grantaire didn't hate his new life. He had good friends, and his dad wasn't making his life miserable anymore. 

But he couldn't stop thinking about Enjolras. 

Eventually, Grantaire and his friends graduated. They all ended up going to the same college, which was pretty funny. He and Eponine knew that they were going to the same college, but the others showed up kind of unexpectedly. He stayed close with his friends. He was there when Jehan started performing his songs in public, when Eponine came out as a lesbian and started dating Cosette, when Marius and Courfeyrac started dating (which Grantaire never saw coming, but in retrospect, it was pretty obvious), when Eponine got custody of her little siblings. He was there when he met his other friends. Courfeyrac and Marius had been telling him about this social justice group thing on campus, the Les Amis de L'ABC. He met up with some of the people trying to get it going, and started hanging out with them. There was Joly, a friendly man with a bad leg. Combeferre, a pre-med student who was surprisingly good at snappy comebacks. Feuilly, a quiet man who had just moved to the states from France. And then there was Bousset, a short man with really bad luck. They were all really interesting, and Grantaire enjoyed hanging out with them. They'd debate on current issues a lot. 

That just made Grantaire think about Enjolras more. 

That was just a dead end memory though.

Until his friends actually got the club started.

They had mentioned a leader of sorts, but never said his name. When Grantaire asked where he was, they'd always say that he was basically trapped into his course work. They said he was studying political science, and minoring in sociology. One day, Courfeyrac texted him, saying that the leader (who was basically the leader because he came up with the idea for the club) was going to be there at their first meeting. 

Grantaire got dressed, put in his contacts, and grabbed his sketchbook. He started down the road to the Musain, the cafe where they always met. 

He got there a little late, but he immediately went over to sit with Courfeyrac and Combeferre. They spoke for a bit, before Courfeyrac spoke up. 

"Damn. You look like you haven't slept in a week. That'd explain the coffee." 

Grantaire assumed the leader guy was finally there, so he looked up. "Hey, nice to meet you. I've heard a lot-" 

The face that looked back at him was not someone he hadn't met before.

It was Enjolras. Much older, but still recognizably Enjolras. It was the small things that Grantaire noticed changed. Most of the changes were completely attributed to puberty, which had happened sometime while Grantaire was gone. Sure, his hair was longer, his features were sharper, and his semi-permanent eye bags weren't as bad. But he was still really the same. Everything Grantaire knew, everything he loved. 

It was like nothing changed.

But it also felt like everything changed. 

"Oh my god." Enjolras said, eyes widened in complete shock. 

_"Grantaire?"_

Grantaire almost started sobbing right there. He might've been crying a little, because Combeferre leaned over to him and asked, "Are you okay? Do you need to go?" But Grantaire was fine. He was more than fine. He hadn't seen Enjolras in so long, and there he was. Just as beautiful as ever. "Enjy." Grantaire said, standing up to better see Enjolras. He was crying a little, too. "I missed you so much. I never forgot, I've been thinking about you every day. I still love you." Grantaire was embraced by Enjolras, his words getting muffled by Enjolras' shoulder. "Me too, 'Taire. Me too." Enjolras said, in the most gentle tone Grantaire had ever heard anyone use. 

"I never want to lose you again. I want to be happy with you. Finally get that apartment with cats. Wake up next to each other, sit on the couch in our pajamas and eat takeout. Be with you forever." Enjolras said, pulling away to look at Grantaire. "Me too. I'm not gonna go anywhere, Apollo." Grantaire said, silently crying as his hand went up to touch Enjolras' hair. 

"Be right back." Grantaire said, taking Enjolras into the single stall bathroom. 

This time, he kissed Enjolras. It might've been a few seconds, it could've been hours. All Grantaire knew was he was whole again. He was gonna get to spend the rest of eternity with his best friend, his first love, his soulmate. 

"I like what you did with your hair." Grantaire said, giggling quietly as he pulled away. "It does look pretty nice today, thank you." Enjolras said, wiping a tear off of Grantaire's cheek. 

_"We have a lot of catching up to do."_


End file.
